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(Pocket-lint) – As well as announcing its plans to roll out its fast-charging technology to partner companies, Oppo has also joined the early crowd of manufacturers to announce a wireless air charging tech.
In short, that means wireless charging where the phone doesn’t need to be in contact with the wireless charging stand or pad.
The manufacturer’s Wireless Air Charging has been demoed working on the Oppo X 2021 concept phone. The device can charge within 10cm of its charging mat at a rate of 7.5W, similar to the speeds and power available on the iPhone’s standard Qi-based wireless charging.
That 10cm range is likely going to be the biggest obstacle to this taking off in a major way. At least, in its current condition. While you wouldn’t need to have the phone on its charging base, you’d still need to be very close in order for it to work.
What’s more, in the hands-on video (screenshots of we’ve included here and available to watch on Oppo’s MWC 2021 site), you can see the person is purposefully holding the phone at its edges, not blocking the rear surface at all.
Oppo first showed off its rollable phone concept at its own Inno Day towards the end of 2020, and its latest announcement adds to the innovative nature of the device.
With its flexible expanding screen and Wireless Air Charge, this phone (or ‘screen device’ as Oppo calls it), is there to show what is technically possible with the technology available today.
Of course, Oppo isn’t the first phone maker to announce a wireless air charging product.
Xiaomi announced its own Mi Air Charge tech recently too, and unlike Oppo’s technology it can only supply 5W of power. However, it does have a much longer range of 5 metres.
Similarly, Motorola showed off its own Qi-based air charging solution which was demoed working at distances up to 100cm. Although, anything blocking line of sight seems to stop the charging with that particular solution.
Clearly then, with its range of 10cm, Oppo’s technology is still far from being the air charging solution we’ve been dreaming of for years where you can stand anywhere in a room with your device and have the battery refill.
This is very early days however, and is only the beginning of what’s possible to implement in our smartphones. We suspect the landscape in just 12 months time could seem very different and much more promising.
Writing by Cam Bunton. Editing by Rik Henderson.
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